Rowe

A UConn Medical Student First

Shawnet Jones is excited to learn she will stay at the UConn Health Center for her residency.
Match Day, March 15: Shawnet Jones (right) learns she’s staying at the UConn Health Center for a family medicine residency. (Janine Gelineau/UConn Health Center Photo)

By Chris DeFrancesco

Commencement 2013 marks a milestone for UConn’s John and Valerie Rowe Health Professions Scholars Program for undergraduates.

Monday, Shawnet Jones becomes the first Rowe scholar to graduate from the UConn School of Medicine.

Jones was part of the first class of Rowe Scholars, which helped enable her to attend UConn’s Combined Program in Medicine, starting in 2005 as an undergraduate. She credits the Rowe scholarship and the UConn Health Center’s Health Career Opportunities Programs (HCOP) as being vital to her growth as a student-turned-physician. Continue reading

Real World Preparation Characterizes Student Nurse’s Education

Profile photo of Mallory Perry, 2014 school of nursing student.
Mallory Perry ’14 (NUR) is interested in pediatric intensive care. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

By Lauren Lalancette

A number of Division III schools vied for Middletown’s Mercy High School athlete of the year to enroll, but Mallory Perry ’14 (NUR) chose UConn because her future career was her top priority.

“It was all about the academics when I chose UConn,” Perry says. “There were so many different schools I could’ve gone to, but I knew I wouldn’t get into the WNBA.” Continue reading

Former Board Chairman Dr. John W. Rowe Honored at Building Naming Ceremony

Dr. Rowe speaks at the naming ceremony
Dr. John W. Rowe, former Board of Trustees Chairman, speaks during the naming ceremony for the John W. Rowe Center for Undergraduate Education. Seated from left, President Susan Herbst, Lawrence McHugh, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mun Choi, interim provost, and Joshua Andrade, an Honors student in the Rowe Scholars Program. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

By Sheila Foran

In a ceremony on Thursday officially designating the former undergraduate education building as the John W. Rowe Center for Undergraduate Education, UConn President Susan Herbst spoke appreciatively of the role that Rowe, former chairman of the Board of Trustees, has played in the development of the University.

It is appropriate, she said, that a building where people come to find their way is named for a man who has given so much to UConn: “There’s a lot of advising in here … a lot of students come in looking for counsel … they come in looking for direction on how to navigate the University … so it’s only fitting that this building is named after one of our favorite people; a person who has given us outstanding direction and guidance during his time here.” Continue reading

Lubonja’s research published in ‘Science of Advanced Materials’

Before Klair Lubonja even started classes his freshman year he was engaged in research courtesy of the Pre-College Enrichment Program, sponsored by the Department of Health Career Opportunity Programs at the UConn Health Center. As a member of Dr. Yu Lei’s lab, Klair spent the summer working with copper nanowire and single-wired carbon nanotubes in an effort to enhance glucose electrooxidation. Continue reading

Rowe Researcher: Translesional Synthesis DNA Polymerases

Summer 2012: Structure and Interactions of Translesional Synthesis DNA Polymerases

By Maciej Kosakowski, Dr. Dmitry Korzhnev, Ph.D., Dr. Irena Bezsonova, Ph.D.

During my weeks with the College Summer Fellowship Program at the UConn Health Center, I worked in a structural biology lab in conjunction with the NMR lab under Dr. Korzhnev. I assisted him on his project, which aimed to discover the specific mechanisms behind translesional synthesis DNA polymerases, or TLS polymerases for short. Continue reading

Rowe Researcher: Health in the Buduburam Refugee Camp

Summer 2012: The Socio-Political Influences on Health in the Buduburam Refugee Camp

By Gian Grant, Dr. Elizabeth Holzer

The United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) recognizes that there are approximately 2.7 million refugees in the world. The UNHCR often coordinates with non-governmental organizations and asylum countries to provide refugees with services such as health care until a permanent residential situation is agreed upon. Continue reading

Rowe Researcher: Characterization of Drosophila Interacting Genes

Daniel Camacho conducting research at the Health Center.
Daniel Camacho conducting research at the Health Center.

Summer 2012: Characterization of Drosophila Interacting Genes: Elucidating the Mechanism(s) of PolyQ Toxicity in Huntington’s Disease

By Daniel R. Camacho, Ping Zhang, Ph.D.

Polyglutamine expansions are a type of genetic mutation that is responsible for several human neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease. The pathology of these diseases involves the accumulation of proteins containing polyglutamine domains within neuronal cells, which ultimately leads to cell death. The mechanism of toxicity of these protein aggregates is currently being investigated. My work involved using the model genetic organism Drosophila melanogaster to try to elucidate aspects of polyglutamine toxicity. Continue reading